Such Pretty Things by Lisa Heathfield
I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Titan Books
Published - Out Now
Price – £8.99 paperback £4.68 Kindle eBook
Following their mother’s accident, Clara and Stephen are sent to stay with their aunt and uncle. It’s a summer to explore the remote house, the walled garden and woods. Beyond it all the loch sits, silent and waiting.
Auntie has wanted them for so long - real children with hair to brush and arms to slip into the clothes made just for them. All those hours washing, polishing, preparing beds and pickling fruit and now Clara and Stephen are here, like a miracle, on her doorstep.
But as they explore their new home, the children uncover ghosts Auntie buried long ago. As their worlds collide, Clara and Auntie struggle for control. And every day they spend there, Clara can feel unknown forces changing her brother. Haunted and bewildered, this hastily formed family begins to tear itself apart.
Meeting a relation for the first time is a strange experience as a child. This stranger is supposed to be someone we must respect and like because we are related to them. Sometimes we may find them so annoying you’d like to avoid but the old saying blood thicker than water means we cannot quite get away from them. In the dark thriller Pretty Such Things Lisa Heathfield tells the story of two siblings visiting their aunt and uncle finding life under their rook strange and increasingly unsettling.
In the 1950s Clara and Stephen are being taken to stay with their mother’s sister who they have never met before. Their mother is in hospital and their father seems not to be able to cope. Auntie lives in a remote part of the country with no one near but the house she shares with Uncle Warren is immaculate. Auntie is on edge and it becomes clear she is not used to children not always doing what they’re told; Stephen the youngest child is prone to tantrums and has difficulty following rules while Clara who is on the cusp of being a teenager is now finding after several months allowing someone else to act as a parent very difficult. This sets in motion an increasing battle between Auntie and Clara for control and independence and Auntie is refusing to take no for an answer.
I was quite disappointed with this story after quite a strong opening few scenes. A mystery is well set up as we see inside Clara’s and Auntie’s heads and see each one’s perspectives. The silent house that is perfect and clean feels strangely oppressive with watching dolls and I liked Clara as a child starting to see life as an adult and realising just because someone is an adult you don’t have to trust or obey them. Unfortunately, the story for a novel quickly runs out of steam. We get stuck in a cycle of child rebellion and punishment that should be building up the tension towards a powerful climax but instead the signposting of what is going on with the aunt and uncle is fairly obvious and pays tribute to some very old ideas. For a novel length I’d had loved a lot more depth of character and certain things we find out are just shouted out in small lines rather than fully explored.
This would have made a great and disturbing short story but for me there was not enough substance to sustain the plot and I found the characters very thinly drawn. I can see lots of things that may have influenced the tale, but I would have loved to see something new for itself in there. Sadly not a tale that worked for me.
